Be My Heroine 43
Representative 1 Week (1)
Two years had passed since then. During such time, many changes were made. After Beth became a representative, Kedrick presented her with a strange hat.
Beth wanted to say this was just another adjustment to her new role, except the hat had an opaque veil hanging from the wide brim. This made it difficult for others to see her face. When Beth asked for an explanation, Kedrick simply said it was for her protection and to wear it while visiting the three occasions when an official representative is required to attend.
What kind of protection would this provide?
Was what Beth wanted to ask but was too lazy to argue. In the end, she just agreed and took the hat. Hence, Beth became known as the Black Veil among the nobles.
Another change was the relationship between Kedrick and Beth. It became more subtle. Beth wouldn’t push Kedrick as much as before. Of course, if it was another colleague she was still relentless, but not with Kedrick.
This was because Kedrick helped Beth manage the estate. Granted, Daniel was a big help because he took care of everything Beth didn’t know. However, it was Kedrick who imparted practical help. He would present tasks that Beth didn’t know how to handle. He would then instruct her on how to manage each assignment.
When Beth asked Kedrick how he knew all this, he smiled and said,
“I did everything I could do to live.”
Beth didn’t probe anymore and Kedrick didn’t explain further.
Slowly, their relationship changed. Before, he would always be by Claire’s side. Now he visited the mansion sporadically and stay for a week or a few months at a time. When he was away, he had Julia give Beth the tea with the distinctive scent. At first Beth thought it was strange, but soon it became part of her routine.
In total, Kedrick stayed a year on the estate. Thankfully, he only left after he confirmed Beth could take care of all her responsibilities.
The first thing Beth did was to cut funding for the children of the deposed Count and Countess. However, because they were still young, she paid for their tuition fees for the rest of the semester. This way their last semester could be spent well.
The rest of the details were not known. Whether they sold their possessions to take care of themselves was up to them. It was already merciful to pay their tuition.
The next thing she dealt with was the security details.
The guards hired by Count Gordon were from the mercenary or adventurer’s guild. However, this was too troublesome and could even cause a breach in security. Based on how the deposed Count hired the guards, Beth could see how little he cared about protecting the people.
There were many days without a guard on duty. This was because of the varying pay rates, unestablished protocols, and the guards all lived outside the estate. This meant Beth had to select and amass troops among the guards the former Count had hired. Once she saw their skills, she divided them into ranks. She assigned the best soldiers as a troop for the county, while the remaining troops were divided into two teams and assigned to the estate’s security division.
She also made sure to assign the troops far away from the previous Count’s tower and would periodically send someone to inspect him regularly.
Their salary was still paid by the county. Though, their salary was cut from what the deposed Count would pay, the intensity of training among other things were the same. So many were convinced to stay.
While Beth gathered and organized the soldiers, she discovered a blank line in the ledger.
Oh-ho.
So, this was how the Count siphoned money. Beth wrinkled her eyebrows while she checked the list. Names of non-existent people and items were recorded in the ledger. He deceived the emperor by claiming to pay what was owed, when in reality he did not. Beth contemplated on where he could have deposited his slush funds
Of course, this was all done under the deposed Count. This made it easier for her to break ties with him and his family.
”We request to give the Holy Land…”
“Denied.”
Beth firmly responded with her gaze fixed on her documents.
“If you refuse again, it will be the sixth time.”
“I have shown enough sincerity with the donation I give every month.”
“…..”
There was nothing like this in the original story.
Beth placed her pen down and clicked her tongue at the unpleasant situation. This was one thing that had not happened in the original. She squinted to help her see clearer.
“Shouldn’t that alone, demonstrate that our Countess Gordon has faith in Diar and supports the Holy Land?”
“But….”
“I don’t need to hear it. It’s not like there were nobles who got a second name in history.”
Beth did not hide her resolute intention when she handed over the Holy Land’s donation papers to Daniel.
“More than that, how are the food development cases going?”
“Oh that ….”
A thick pile of papers Daniel had was placed on Beth’s desk.
Little by little. Beth enjoyed watching the progress.
At first, little progress was made in food development. It felt like they were burning money. In fact, even the county’s people were reluctant. It was just so strange to them. They didn’t even ask for funding. Yet money kept coming.
The first day Beth began her duties as a representative, many were worried. She was a commoner. In fact, some went easy on her. Even so, soon after, many were surprised at how organized she was. She was even better than the previous Count. Then a few months had passed. The people all began to follow her due to her amazing abilities.
Kedrick asked if this was what she was aiming for. Her response was that she was busy and was going to die, so why would she aim for such a thing?
Daniel looked at Beth, who still had her head buried in her papers. He then asked,
“Do you know what day it is?”
“What?”
“It’s the third day.”
“The third day of what?”
“…..”
Daniel sighed while he continued to look at Beth. Beth returned his gaze with confusion.
“It’s been the third day since you’ve continued working without rest.”
“… did that happen?”
Beth didn’t realize this because she hadn’t counted how many sunrises had already rose, she innocently explained as she moved on to the next document.
“You will die.”
“It’s okay, I sleep in the daytime.”
“That’s just closing your eyes for a little while.”
“That’s also sleep.”
She carried on in this conversation with a monotone voice, when she suddenly heard another voice she hadn’t heard in a while.
“
“Why not just say you can’t sleep because you’re already dead?”
As soon as Kedrick returned after a long time, he interrupts their conversation. He waltzed into Beth’s office without knocking. Though this was a familiar sight for her.
As she glanced over the tax reform bill, without looking up Beth replied,
“I couldn’t sleep even when I did die.”
“You speak as if you’ve already died before.”
If she did sleep after she died, her previous life’s memories wouldn’t have returned and she wouldn’t be here reading documents.
She would soon need to visit the market for research. She already had someone send a report but she wanted to see it in person.
“My lady is worried ~.”
As Kedrick said so, he placed a palm-sized glass bottle on Beth’s desk. Inside it contained a small round chocolate.
“I bought something that is not too sweet. Since you hate sweets.”
“This…”
Beth squinted at the bottle, in an attempt to wake up.
“It is a specialty from the territory of Marquis of Edelwein.”
“…you know that?”
“I’ve been looking into whether we can also make specialty items here. It would benefit the territory’s economy if we had such a thing.”
She figured he visited Marquis Edelwein’s territory again. Beth said some words and then placed the chocolate in the drawer.
Wherever Kedrick traveled, the items he would bring back still looked new.
“What about the lady’s gift?”
Kedrick knew Beth disliked it when he would visit her before Claire. So, whenever he would visit, he would greet Claire first with a gift and then go to Beth.
“I saw her first. She loves sweets so much.”
It’s true. Claire loved sweets. Even though she had plenty during the two years as the master. Sweets were her natural preference. She lived such a difficult life before. Perhaps this is why she prefers sweets over anything else.
“… Be, Beth.”
Whenever Kedrick would visit the office, Claire would follow behind a little later. Interestingly, though the two gave off a similar feeling they acted differently when they went into the room. Kedrick acted comfortable and easygoing, going in and out of the room as if it were his own. However, the owner of the estate, Countess Claire, would enter cautiously every time for the past two years. She couldn’t even speak well whenever she visited Beth’s office. So really the only times Claire saw Beth was when she helped her get dressed or the occasional outing.
“Lady, don’t look around and come in. You’re the owner of this mansion.”
Beth got up from her seat with a gentle smile and guided Claire to the best sofa in the office.
Daniel was relieved when Beth, someone who was always reading documents, moved away from her desk.
It was the butler’s secret mission to make that workaholic rest, somehow.
“….”
“….”
Daniel and Kedrick’s eyes met with sad understanding.
‘It has been 3 days since Miss Beth last slept.’
‘I’m glad she hasn’t reached a new record yet.’
After their brief telepathic interchange, Daniel was asked to serve tea. Meanwhile, Kedrick naturally sat on a couch next to Claire’s. Normally, without Claire’s permission, Kedrick could not sit down. But that didn’t stop him. Claire’s bond with Beth and Kedrick made it so that such rules didn’t apply.
“Be, Beth sit down.”
Of course, Beth would not sit down unless Claire told her to. Regardless of their bond.
Once Claire told her to sit, Beth bowed her head and sat next to Kedrick. Claire stared at Beth, then wishing for luck, started,
“This, you know.”
“Yes?”
“I have something I want to do…”
“Then you should. What is it? I’ll look into it for you.”
Claire hesitated, fidgeting with her hand, then opened her mouth.
“St, study a little more…”
“More here?”
Claire was currently learning history, language, math, music and liberal arts. It didn’t meet the standards of Korea’s intensive education, but by Beth’s standards, it was enough.
“Yes…”
Claire looked at Beth with an anxious expression.
“I want to learn business management or something like that…”
Aren’t you still ten years old? Beth didn’t understand Claire’s sudden interest to learn management.
Claire hurriedly added.
“Be, because if I get a little smarter, then you won’t have to do so much! He, he, he, so, yeah! It’s not like ….. you did something wrong…”
Claire said, peeking at Beth carefully. Maybe Beth would misunderstand or be offended.
“That’s why…”
“My lady is still so young.”
You can’t! It’s because you’re too young!
Really, in Beth eyes Claire was still like a young child. Even though Claire was already 10 years old. In the Innomore Empire, fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds were adolescents. At sixteen, you were considered an adult. But even then, Beth would still view Claire as a young child. This was due to her previous life’s memories.
“But…..”
“If you must, take it one step at a time. Do it while experiencing other things.”
Beth didn’t want Claire to be burden with heavy responsibilities. She wanted Claire to enjoy life a little more without worry.
Daniel re-entered the office quietly and placed three cups of tea on the table between their sofas. It was chamomile tea.
“This tea is good for sleeping well.”
“Sleep well?”
Claire squeezed her round eyes, shifting her gaze from the tea, to Daniel, then to Beth.
Beth’s eyebrows wrinkled.
Whenever Beth didn’t like something, her eyebrows would wrinkle. It was a habit Claire knew well.
“Maybe… you…”
Claire knew Beth did a lot of work. But all Daniel said was Beth needed to sleep. Beth’s appearance seemed to say so as well. Her hair was more frazzled than before, and the black bags under her eyes was more proof than anything. Even if the sun didn’t rise, Beth would still work.
Claire gave Beth a look of a strong determination.
“As the Countess, I am ordering you to!”
“…Miss? “
“Beth will be sent on vacation for a week. Starting today! I will not allow you to do anything related to work!”
Rarely would Beth’s eyes quiver. This was one of those instances.
“What about managing the mansion…?”
“There is Daniel and others here as well! You don’t need to do everything.”
Claire was rarely so determined.
“If Beth does any sort of work during this week….”
Claire firmly announced her decision,
“Then, I’ll learn how to manage the mansion as well!”
Kedrick blew out a small whistle. Beth looked at Claire like how a mother would view her rebellious teenager.
Kedrick whispered.
“If you collapse while working to the bone, she’ll know you were overdoing it.”
In reality, he revealed she was overdoing it.
Beth concealed her heavy heart and nodded.
“Okay.”
Beth accepted Claire’s orders without saying anything.
A week without working. Beth rarely had so much free time that she wouldn’t even know what to do with it.
Rather, the word “rest” made her heart heavy.
What should she do?
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